NEW YORK — Jurors on Friday acquitted a driver of manslaughter in the deaths of 15 people killed when their tour bus smashed into a guardrail, tipped over and skidded hundreds of feet down an expressway — a crash prosecutors blamed on the unlicensed driver's fatigue. After eight days of deliberations and several weeks of testimony, including accounts from victims who had lost limbs in the horrific crash, the jury rejected the prosecution's argument and found the driver, Ophadell Williams, guilty of only one count: a misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle without a license.

A tour bus that was 4 feet too tall to clear a 9 1/2 -foot highway overpass in Manhattan slammed into it, injuring some of the 49 passengers, authorities said. Most injuries were minor, although a boy with a crushed windpipe and a woman who suffered chest pains were hospitalized, the Fire Department said. The accident happened as the bus from Canada was traveling on Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. Police cited the driver, Yu Yuk Ho, 56, for disobeying a sign and for other infractions.

The top of a double-deck tour bus was sheared off when it slammed into an overpass bridge, authorities said. One person was killed and 33 others were injured, they said. The driver tried to pass under the stone archway while in the right lane of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, instead of using the center lane where clearance is higher, a U.S. Park Service official said. Authorities were investigating the cause of the Saturday accident.

Two German tourists were killed and 43 others injured Friday when a tour bus heading from Las Vegas to Mammoth Lakes careened off a desert highway in the Owens Valley, the California Highway Patrol said. The bus was westbound on Highway 168, about four miles east of Big Pine, when the driver lost control on a downgrade and went off the road, CHP Sgt. Ray Dixon said. Rescuers arrived to find injured victims waiting dazed along the road, witnesses said.

At least eight people were killed Sunday night and more than 30 injured when a tour bus crashed on a narrow mountain road near Yucaipa, authorities said. The collision, which involved the bus, a truck and a sedan, took place about 6:30 p.m. on California 38 on a route leading from the Big Bear area, authorities said. Some people were ejected from the bus; others were trapped inside. Because of the severity of the carnage, it was difficult for rescue workers to immediately identify exactly how many people were killed.

In 15 years of chauffeuring groups of senior citizens, foreign travelers and out-of-state tourists throughout California, Starline Sightseeing Tours had no major accidents on its record until Friday's tour bus tragedy, state transportation officials and company executives said. However, the Hollywood-based company, which operates 40 buses and vans, was criticized by the California Highway Patrol in 1984 for "numerous mechanical safety defects" including "serious brake system defects."

A bomb packed with nails and apparently aimed at a tour bus exploded on the road to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo, killing an Egyptian and wounding 14 people, including five British tourists. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the blast appeared to be the work of Muslim extremists who have targeted tourists and Egyptian officials in a 1 1/2-year campaign against the secular government. An Interior Ministry official said the bomb had been placed on a bicycle.

A runaway tour bus hit several cars Tuesday evening, injuring four motorists who were in the vehicle's path, authorities said. The charter bus, believed to be returning from a trip to Las Vegas, lost its brakes while headed south on North Montebello Boulevard near Lincoln Avenue, Montebello Police Lt. Joe Juiliano said.

A tour bus loaded with children and a big rig collided late Tuesday on a remote stretch of Interstate 15, authorities said. At least 40 injuries were reported. The crash occurred about 10 p.m. on the northbound lanes of the highway that connects Southern California and Las Vegas. The cause was not clear, but the bus ended up in a ditch. The bus driver was trapped in the wreckage and firefighters were working to extricate him, said Dennis West of the San Bernardino Fire Department.

A man was killed Sunday when he lost control of his car and was hit by a tour bus on the Santa Ana Freeway in Buena Park. The crash occurred about 8:50 a.m. in the southbound lanes near the Artesia Boulevard offramp. The driver was speeding when he tried to pass several cars and lost control of his white Chevrolet Malibu, California Highway Patrol Officer Denise Medina said. The car ricocheted off the center divider and stopped perpendicular to traffic.